tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68710350907040054082018-03-16T07:26:22.168-04:00Mike's Bean PatchGrowing vegetables in raised beds. Wildlife habitat. Building things. Location: SW Indiana.gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.comBlogger418125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-48756059320412497362018-02-26T12:00:00.001-05:002018-02-26T22:04:44.427-05:00It's late winter but feels more like springLast week's rains finally ended on Saturday, and Sunday I started doing some preparatory tasks in the beds. The rain gauge showed 4 1/2 inches last week and with temperatures more like April, it was unusual to say the least for February. It was warm like this last February and this pattern is looking like the new normal - a warm spell in late winter then later a killing frost. Last year mostgardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-13761634772674647302018-02-19T11:09:00.000-05:002018-02-19T11:09:02.279-05:00Snips!With the unusually warm weather in February the parsnips that were grown last year were starting to send up green fronds. When they do that the flavor usually goes south, so it was time to dig them up. These are Javelin, from Johnny's. I've found that this variety outperforms the Harris Model that is commonly seen.
I like parsnips, but they don't produce a lot, especially considering that gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-183115138129059292018-02-14T17:19:00.001-05:002018-02-15T09:47:56.585-05:00Introducing the LED grow lights<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-85175399012091674722017-10-30T11:27:00.000-04:002017-10-30T11:32:46.201-04:00Monday October 30With frost predicted later this week, it was time to harvest the remaining peppers. I got another nice batch of ancho peppers, along with some Carmen and Giallo sweet peppers. All of these were put on the grill. The anchos went into a final batch of harissa, while the sweet peppers went into a Buttercup squash soup. A lot of green anchos were left on the vine.
There were hot peppers too,gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-17830725777586840252017-10-23T13:12:00.000-04:002017-10-23T13:12:08.735-04:00Monday, October 23There are still harvests to be had from the beds. There are enough ancho and other peppers to make another batch of harissa. I meant to pick them yesterday before today's rains set in but couldn't get to it. The forecast calls for the first fall freeze on Saturday morning, and I'll get them in sometime this week. There's also a 4' x 4' patch of parsnip, and I'll start digging them up after a gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-43004479134009687712017-10-09T11:58:00.001-04:002017-10-09T12:21:34.944-04:00Not done yetI've been waiting and waiting to harvest some ancho peppers for another batch of harissa, what with the late rains and work on the front porch. Around here, anchos are a hit and miss proposition, and if the summer is cool, most of them will still be ripening on the plants when the first frost arrives. The first half of September was unseasonably cool, and that didn't help, but after that thingsgardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-60561000019722388872017-09-28T10:22:00.003-04:002017-09-28T10:25:28.232-04:00A new front porchI guess I'm one of those people who has to have a project or two to do every year, and on this house, there is no shortage of projects that badly need to be undertaken. This year it's the front porch and walkway to the drive. The walkway was a wood affair. Not only was it dangerously slick in the winter, so slick that I've had a number of close calls, but the wood frame in contact with the gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-44751966244969439212017-09-25T14:05:00.000-04:002017-09-25T14:05:31.685-04:00Monday September 25At this point there's not much left of the vegetable garden. Last weekend I removed the two cages of Mountain Magic tomatoes, but not before picking any that were ripe or at least orange. That is the end of the indeterminate tomatoes for the year.
The tomato plants were thrown into the woods. I don't like putting them in the compost bin because it may not get hot enough to kill the gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-16720086043123680052017-09-17T10:29:00.000-04:002017-09-17T10:29:05.409-04:00Paw paw harvestAbout a year ago I wrote a post about a patch of small pawpaw trees I found growing at the edge of the yard. To help them along, I removed other saplings, wild raspberry vines, and invasive multiflora rose bushes that were competing with them. Well this year they have rewarded me with a nice crop of pawpaw fruits. I've been picking one or two a day and having them for desert.
For those gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-6282799693616713762017-09-11T09:47:00.000-04:002017-09-11T09:47:27.072-04:00Monday September 11Production is slowing way down here, which is not a bad thing really, as I don't need to freeze any more beans or can any more salsa, there's plenty in the pantry. I'm getting just enough to put into meals. Having said that, the peppers are still producing and, if the weather is favorable, continue to produce for several more weeks. This picking a week ago went into a batch of harissa, gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-13201041294930617902017-09-05T23:21:00.000-04:002017-09-05T23:21:09.467-04:00Harissa reduxTunisian pepper paste. I love this stuff, especially on eggs. Actually I made a post on this last year when I had my first go at making it. This time I want to go into a little more detail on how I make harissa, since the last post was a little sketchy. If you look up recipes online you'll find many different ways to make it. I'm sure that, like hummus, every town in the region has its own gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-62982119777886197952017-09-04T12:43:00.000-04:002017-09-04T12:43:01.833-04:00Labor Day, September 4 2017Back when I was a wee lad at St. Paul's Lutheran school in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, Labor Day marked the end of summer, a weekend to go to the lake for one last swim, and, with summer's end, the start of school shortly after, the end of freedom. Most schools did not have air-conditioning then, and it made perfect sense to wait until cooler weather was at least a short time away. Now schoolgardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-89636103663760992442017-08-30T23:30:00.001-04:002017-08-30T23:30:24.107-04:00Slowly winding things down, and some nature picsWell that's a gentle way of putting that I'm ripping out some plants, I guess. Both eggplants are out, victims of insects and unknown diseases, which usually follow insects. The okra's foliage is thinning out and it won't be long before it's gone. The lone summer squash has a stressed look in its leaves, the last squash rotted, and I don't see anymore forming. And the tomatoes finally got gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-7242625739485047352017-08-28T17:17:00.001-04:002017-08-28T17:17:16.428-04:00Monday August 28Another very productive week in the bean patch. Speaking of beans, they have been producing strongly for a couple of weeks now, after the Japanese beetles tore through them and virtually stopped the beans in their tracks. I can't imagine how many beans could have been picked if it wasn't for these pests. So far I've gotten nearly 30 pounds of beans, most of them pole beans from a 9 foot long gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-47869445675725571012017-08-21T11:11:00.000-04:002017-08-21T11:11:16.368-04:00Monday August 21It's been a really productive week here in the bean patch, in fact, the best so far this year. I brought down the garlic that was drying in the attic in the pole barn and cleaned it up. There are 4 different kinds but only 2 are known since the labels were lost for the others. Only about 2 pounds but that will last me until next year.
The Musica and Fortex pole beans have started producing gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-8929434800153717162017-08-20T12:30:00.001-04:002017-08-20T12:30:07.799-04:00Ghost birdsWood ducks are like phantoms. They are here and suddenly they are gone. They land in the water with hardly a sound, and as soon as they see me they take off. I scared up these two and they landed again at the far end of the pond.
Yesterday I spied a group of 8 when I was in the sunroom. Like the blue herons, they can see my movement in the sunroom and will bolt if they do, so I have to gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-59924704740646948672017-08-17T14:55:00.000-04:002017-08-20T12:17:11.644-04:00Canning tomato sauces, observations and rantsLast Sunday I canned marinara sauce for the first time, using the boiling-water canning method. Tuesday I canned a batch of salsa, a sauce that I've made numerous times. As a former research chemist, I see a number of inconsistencies or just plain poor guidance in many of the established recipes.
First, just to touch on several points about boiling water canning:
Boiling water temperatures gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-66488697195052215602017-08-14T11:24:00.002-04:002017-08-14T11:24:44.712-04:00Monday August 14The word of the week is tomatoes, lots of 'em, and then there's doing something with all those tomatoes. Early last week I picked some nice Better Boy and Pink Girl slicers. Since there were more on the windowsill, I gave these away.
Then it was time to pick the sauce tomatoes. Actually they weren't as ripe as I like, but an animal of some sort was damaging the fruits in low-hanging gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-70375380506178071002017-08-10T23:47:00.000-04:002017-08-11T09:10:55.917-04:00Status report - AugustIt's getting late into summer, and I'm seeing the usual assortment of things doing well and other things in decline. I think this is the time when a lot of people, seeing a vegetable garden that looks more ragged than green, throw up their hands and walk away, maybe collecting the remaining tomatoes. However with some maintenance the garden can continue producing for several months. Today I gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-24209933334460658582017-08-07T09:51:00.002-04:002017-08-07T16:40:19.460-04:00Monday August 17It's been a very good week in the bean patch. With the exception of the pole beans, which have experienced a slow down, most everything is doing very well. After a number of very bad years for tomatoes, this year is proving exceptional. I harvested these Pink Girl slicers before they were fully ripe. An animal, most likely a rabbit, had gnawed at the lowest tomato on the vine, so I picked thegardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-41593523197244906202017-08-05T16:19:00.001-04:002017-08-05T16:33:25.379-04:00The year of the tigerTiger swallowtail that is. OK, I used a gimmick to get your attention, guilty am I. It's been nearly 10 years since these butterflies have been seen in such numbers. I don't know why animal populations ebb and flow, sometimes dramatically, but that is what they do. And this is one of the most spectacular butterflies in this region. They are drawn to Joe Pye Weed and some other weeds that I gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-57852296959740900622017-07-31T10:34:00.001-04:002017-07-31T10:34:56.455-04:00Monday, July 31It's the end of July and the tomatoes are finally starting to produce, including the slicers. I picked the first PInk Girl and Better Boy tomatoes. The Pink Girl has a very nice balance of flavors, excellent really. I've been harvesting Mountain Magic and Black Plum nearly every day and putting them in salads, sliced in half. Sunday there were finally enough tomatoes - 3 pounds - to make thegardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-47989828835930522042017-07-26T23:00:00.000-04:002017-07-26T23:00:40.530-04:00Notes to self and routine maintenanceEven when there's nothing to pick, every day I check the garden to see if there's anything that requires some attention, immediate or not. And I also make mental notes of things I want to do different next season, or want to try. Sometimes I put the notes in writing, but usually I count on remembering them when the time comes next year.
Case in point: the determinate paste tomatoes. This is gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-13572385427711085382017-07-24T10:25:00.002-04:002017-07-24T10:25:36.594-04:00Monday, July 24I was hoping to post midweek, but my 10 yr old Canon point and shoot camera finally gave up the ghost. The new camera is the lowest price Kodak that Walmart had, but it does everything I need, actually better than the old camera. It took a few days to get used to it. There are a whole lot of features that I will never use (it's a point and shoot camera after all) but I've finally learned how gardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6871035090704005408.post-6545122028528366542017-07-17T10:22:00.001-04:002017-07-17T10:22:54.123-04:00Monday July 17Welcome to Harvest Monday. Here in SW Indiana the garden production is ramping up. Tomatoes and sweet corn are just a few days away, but in the meantime I'm getting lots of other goodies, mostly beans and cucumbers. Early last week, a picking of beans, mostly Musica.
The rains arrived midweek and there were no pickings for a several
days. After a day of sunshine on Friday there was a lotgardenvariety-hoosierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02823437033502199023noreply@blogger.com4